missed kiss from: akaba reiji
by Element's Sole Protector
Summary: When you're babysitting, you shouldn't sleep on the job.


The first time Yuuya's boyfriend kissed him, he was asleep and missed out on half of it.

(To this day he still pouted a bit about it, because they weren't a very affectionate couple in general, and before that morning they'd only _ever_ held hands. And for all his abilities-riding a D-Wheel, growing plants, charming spectators and wrecking dimensions - he couldn't turn back time to relive that kiss, damn it. So why'd it have to be _then_ that his partner got mushy?

Reiji just chuckled and shrugged whenever it came up, enjoying the usual satisfaction of having his boyfriend's thoughts in knots.)

Yuuya had been looking after Reira with Tsukikage the evening before it happened; the Akaba matriarch was away for business yet again, and Reiji had kidnapped Shun to go and stock up on groceries. This wasn't the first time Yuuya had ended up kid-sitting Reiji's brother since they'd kept dueling, stopped arguing, started talking, and _then_ started dating, so it was no trouble at all for them to get along.

It was only the second time that Tsukikage had also been called to look after Reira at the same time, though, which gave the two older former Lancers more time to truly get to know one another outside the desperation of a dimensional war. So while Reira drew and watched the nature channel, Yuuya chatted with Tsukikage about the well-being of his brother, Hikage, about how their duel schools were doing, and even about dealing with wartime injuries.

"The muscles are no bother," the young ninja had said, waving an arm. "The exercises I do in the mornings before classes dull those pains well enough. The problem is - "

"- the joints," Yuuya had finished for him, currently massaging his elbow. " _Aa_ , it's the same. Every wall I slammed into or street I fell onto - it's like they're still with me. Nothing heals entirely."

He'd been wondering if he was mad to feel the way he did, but Tsukikage's understanding nod and grimace were a better balm than the ones he'd been testing on himself.

They'd shared coping strategies quietly so Reira couldn't quite hear, then invited him over for a friendly traditional table duel. 'No holograms or Solid Vision' was a Serious Rule in the Akaba household, period. Akaba Leo had found that out the hard way when he crossed his ex-wife and got kicked out of the LDS tower - again.

The Akaba family believed in skill gained with substance, no flashy displays or audience necessary. It was how they dueled and how they did business. Anything other than a cold, calculated victory was indecent. Such was Akaba Himika's will that in _her_ house, _her_ tower, only Reiji's _distant_ fascination with Entertainment Dueling was tolerated-and only because of the blood they shared, along with Reiji's proficiency in all other required duties.

Reira was allowed no such weakness-and after his prior transgressions, nor was Leo.

On that windy summer evening, Tsukikage had won the table duel, and the one following, so they'd switched to chess to utilize the sad, dusty set the Akaba brothers seldom used anymore.

("Our mother used chess to teach us, to mold us into perfect duelists," Reiji told him once. "And warriors. The best soldiers are fearless. They think so far ahead as to simulate omniscience in the eyes of their peers. So this is what we were made into-myself, and then Reira."

Yuuya had been dumbfounded. "You claimed the Youth Championship because you were good at chess?"

"No. I claimed victory in every Championship because I was, and am, _the best_ at chess."

"That's... that's just..."

" - Ah, you're right, I misspoke. I _was_ the best, but Reira has long since surpassed me now.")

Reira had beaten both older boys easily at chess. Less than a score of moves each time. For him, getting out of practice in any skill or pasttime was an impossible concept.

"Ah geez," Yuuya'd said at last, "is there any game you and Tsukikage would _let_ me win, just for my pride? I used to win a lot, you know."

The Fuuma ninja chuckled; Reira barely cracked a smile. Yuuya took the latter occurrence for the uncommon gift that it was.

After that they'd watched an animated movie or three. Reira's life before becoming the most junior Lancer hadn't been filled with anything silly or lighthearted, making his first attempts to find common ground with peers stilted and awkward; he was a weapon, polished and readied to be used once and (if absolutely necessary) shelved. It was safe to say that none of the Akabas thought he would survive that long.

Even so, Yuuya had felt warm looking at him just then, giggling at _The Emperor's New Groove_. The maladjusted young boy who'd whispered plaintively for his older brother, suffered constant panic attacks at the possibility of conflict and suffered incomplete sleeps dominated by night terrors was now a quiet, courageous kid who handily beat his comrades at chess and chatted about casual duels with Tatsuya, Ayu and Futoshi. _This_ Akaba Reira stopped by You Show to practice Entertainment Dueling, leaping from Action Field to Action Field; this Reira did better in school and smiled when talking to people (not just _the one_ person) he cared about. After so long sleepwalking through life, this Reira was awake, aware, and so alive.

After the films, they'd turned back to regular programming and found a channel with college kids doing stupid stunts to pay for university. Tsukikage had looked on impassively, but Reira made a noise like a snort and of course it caught Yuuya's attention.

"Hey now, what was that? What was that for?"

"N-Nothing, just... that looks like some of the stuff you do in your duels."

"Whaaaaaa? _Reira_ , I'm a _professional_ Entertainer and I learned it all from my dad who practically _invented_ what those guys are badly imitating right now - !"

He'd paused for breath before whining a bit more, but took too long to get started again; Reira had begun laughing in earnest.

The sound was so unusual that Nakajima and several guards had come running to see what the matter was or who needed help, and were stunned to find it was just their youngest master enjoying some gentle needling. Tsukikage had to coax them away.

Naturally after they disappeared (around the next corner), Yuuya had insisted on rebuilding his reputation by doing every pose and stunt the college kids did, but flashier and with less flaws. Reira and Tsukikage teamed together, throwing him one ball, then two, then three, until he was juggling the rainbow in his hands, twisting and twirling into impossible poses. First he was a pretzel, then a rapidly-beating heart, then a ballet dancer, all with multicolored planets still swirling around him.

He had then tossed the balls neatly into a laundry bin across the living room and leapt onto the couch, scaring his audience off in order to mimic the gymnasts he used to watch on TV as a boy. With these stunts and more, he'd easily regained Reira's awe and Tsukikage's full attention, while also scaring the shit out of the guards around the next corner who prayed that Reiji's young rival wouldn't break any of the tables, chairs or picture frames.

And after all of this, despite Reira's growing comfort with staying up late and spending hours of leisure time with friends, the youngest boy had called it a night shortly after he finished laughing and clapping at Yuuya and trading Pendulum Cards on the sly with Tsukikage. He was still taking it day by day, a flower unfurling slowly for its day in the sun. Neither Tsukikage nor Yuuya were the type to begrudge him the wait.

* * *

Later Tsukikage had said, "You are different."

"Uh... thank you?"

The ninja had given him a small smile worthy of Akaba Reira, now sound asleep ten floors up. "It's a compliment."

"It _is_?"

"I noticed earlier - when you entertain, you don't wait for the smiles anymore. Before, you hoped that they would feel what you projected, not see how you felt. Now you are happy, and you already know you are sharing your joy."

Yuuya had smiled with a little more strength, because that made a strange kind of sense to him. "Yeah. I guess... before... I wanted them to smile so _I_ could feel brave. Feel good. Reflect off of them. And now it's not like that."

"No. Now it's not."

There was more they could have said, yet it had felt just as natural to remain quiet about it.

(Yuuya had always sensed that Fuuma Tsukikage had someone, somewhere out in Standard, who was to him what Reiji was to Yuuya: a balancing force, a confidant, a comfort. Someone special. There had been things he talked about with this mature young man that he couldn't even scratch at the surface of with the other Lancers, even Gongenzaka, Shun or Serena. Tsukikage knew more about Yuuya's innermost demons and most tangled-up, mushy feelings than anyone else besides his mother and Yuzu. Even Reiji did not know all of the doubts and delights that his former second-in-command had heard and gleaned in the past year.

Yet.)

Instead of polluting the quiet with words, Yuuya had thought ahead to the tomorrows to come, plenty of time for questions and confidences, and simply said, "Good night, Tsukikage."

And in return, the young ninja had clasped his shoulder, briefly but firmly. "Sleep well, Yuuya."

They had both ignored guest bedrooms (still too comfortable after wartime) and picked couches on opposite sides of the elevator door, protecting access to Reira even in sleep. The usual plan was to trade off sleeping shifts until Reiji and Shun finally made it back from whatever grocery store had rice milk in stock in Maiami.

Yuuya swore from the next day to the present one that Tsukikage was meant to wake him up that night after his four hour shift, but never did. Tsukikage, of course, stoically denied such a thing and suggested that Yuuya had simply been half-asleep during _his_ watch and simply drifted off again close to morning.

But he couldn't keep away a smile every time he stuck to that story.

* * *

Fact: Akaba Reiji and Kurosaki Shun got back to the LDS skyscraper at approximately four in the morning, overloaded with short tempers and enough groceries to outlast two more of Akaba Himika's overseas trips.

Fact: Shun remembered his old room and immediately suggested they pass out and check on the others later in the morning, since if there was a problem Nakajima would have reported it immediately.

Fact: Reiji shot this plan down before it could form wings.

Fact: The two young men then spotted the grocery list they'd accidentally left behind at the receptionist's desk when they set out, and Reiji reacted with dismay upon realizing they'd forgotten to get more instant ramen for his at-home board meetings.

Fact: He insisted they go back out for it, at _approximately four in the morning_ , in full view of his dumbfounded driver and guards.

Conjecture: Already a murderer, Kurosaki Shun took several moments to talk himself down from swiftly and simply ending a boy genius.

Fact: After a long pause caught by LEO Corp security cameras, Shun quietly but unwaveringly suggested that they go to bed now and Reiji go back out with his boyfriend that afternoon instead.

Conjecture: Mentioning Sakaki Yuuya reminded Reiji that his boyfriend _was_ in fact upstairs, probably drooling into a bed somewhere, and seeing him now sounded like an excellent idea.

Fact: Barely loud enough to be picked up by the cameras, Reiji mumbled an agreement that they were done with the outside world for now. But _only_ because of the lateness of the hour and the exhausting nature of consistently being around dark-cloud Shun, not because he'd asked Yuuya to help look after Reira during their mad grocery adventures and he was likely still up there now.

Conjecture: Neither of them believed that paper-thin deflection for a moment.

Fact: The guards ended up putting the groceries away, and Reiji and Shun went their separate ways to find what sleep they could.

(Conjecture: It was perhaps during this time, away from human and mechanical eyes, that Reiji found his boyfriend sleeping soundly, looking as beautiful as a fey creature, and decided it was finally time to share something more affectionate than hand-holding.)

* * *

And then later that very morning, someone was kissing Yuuya.

He had been dreaming of going to Six Flags in America with Yuzu, shrieking as the rollercoaster twisted and flipped him faster than Solid Vision Duel Monsters ever could, wondering if he could incorporate this stomach-flipping feeling into his next duel somehow anyway. The dream had started blurring at the edges when the kiss reached through dreamland to retrieve him, but Yuuya didn't understand what was happening at first. It took a minute or two or five before he got it.

 _Oh. Someone's kissing me. That's... that's nice_.

His cheek had been kissed next, barely a skim before his tormentor traveled back to his lips, and _whoops_ , there he went, Yuuya had gotten a boner. ( _Damn my sensitivity!_ )

That went a long way toward waking him up.

"Good morning, Yuuya," Akaba Reiji said casually, as though he hadn't just given his boyfriend their first kiss in fairytale fashion.

"R... _Reiji_? You're ba-haah... wha?"

He had been caught in a half-yawn, a groggy state of confusion that whispered to him _hey, maybe you have dreamed all this, this is your desperate wet dream, and Reiji isn't back from the store yet_.

"Thank you for looking after Reira with Tsukikage. Kurosaki and I got back a little later than planned. My fault."

 _Okay_ , Yuuya had thought, shifting the thin blanket to cover his lower half while starting a smile on his lips, _maybe I am not dreaming_.

"S'okay, as long as everythin' went fine...?"

Reiji had flushed and looked shy. Sleepy and shy. "Perfectly well. Except, ah, I may need to go back to the store later today with you."

"No problem...!" He had been a little giddy, conscious of the kiss but otherwise perhaps three-quarters asleep, which probably explained why he kissed Reiji in return right then, morning breath and all. The older boy didn't seem to mind. "Is Tsukikage gone?"

"With the dawn, as always."

"And Shun...?"

"Passed out, downstairs. He's a little upset with me."

"Heh, what else is new? - What about Reira, did he sleep in again?"

"You know we Akabas don't allow ourselves that kind of luxury," Reiji had teased, then relented when he saw horror overtake sleepy complacency on his partner's face. " _Yes_ , Yuuya, he is still sound asleep."

"Okay... good..." He hadn't been able to think of anything else to say. Until he had.

"Reiji...?"

"Hmm?"

"Did we just have our first kiss? Did I dream that...?"

There was an amused glint behind the red glasses. "You did not dream that."

"Oh, okay..." Another yawn. "...Can we t-talk about it after I've had m-more sleep?

The middle Akaba child had chuckled, touching their foreheads together for a short infinity.

"If you still remember it, we can. Good morning, Yuuya."

"Good night, Reiji."

* * *

Goes without saying: the photo's not mine.

I think it's been a million years since I posted anything here. My response? Post something in a different fandom than ever before that I've been obsessed with for the past three years!

* _confetti pop, followed swiftly by awkward silence_ *

...Hi, readers. Sorry for virtually vanishing. I've got fics to update and stories to tell, but right now isn't that time. With luck we'll see each other again soon. For now, please enjoy this brief dip into _Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V_.


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